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proudly serving Wyndham
18 MARCH, 2026
Yalda Massih from Afghanistan (middle) with Amy Guo and Lisa Ding from China. (Damjan Janevski). 540065_01
Delighting in diversity Wyndham council is celebrating Cultural Diversity Week from 21-29 March. Embracing the theme ‘Culture connects us all’, council will host several free activities throughout the week. Full details page 2.
Golf sale rejected By Jaidyn Kennedy Wyndham council has backed more than 200 residents and gone against officers’ advice to reject a bid to sell some of the Sanctuary Lakes golf course for housing. On Tuesday 10 March, Wyndham’s planning committee considered an application from Sanctuary Lakes Golf Club to subdivide part of the course into 28 residential lots. Sanctuary Lakes Golf Club chair David Hunter said the intention behind the proposal was to establish a fund to keep the club alive. “We have an investment committee in
place to be able to do all that, and we have been able to confi rm we will be able to achieve the $600,000 plus per year we need over the following 10 years to keep the club going,” Mr Hunter said. While council officers backed the plan, 217 formal objections were submitted. Some of the objectors spoke at the planning committee meeting and raised concerns that the character of the area would be diminished by more housing. Sanctuary Lakes Resort general manager Sally McKenna said the proposal would change the balance the community was “carefully planned around”. “Increasing density beyond these
assumptions risks placing additional stress on systems that were never intended to carry that level of demand,“ she said. Wyndham planning and livability director Eric Braslis addressed concerns about additional traffic overwhelming the area, and said the current infrastructure would be able to handle it. “I appreciate there will be a change in the perceived level of congestion … but from a traffic management perspective the road network is more than able to accommodate the additional movements,” Mr Braslis said. Cr Jasmine Hill put forth an alternative to vote against the officer’s call and reject the proposal.
“Replacing the landscape with residential lots would erode the special setting that has long been a defi ning feature of the Sanctuary Lakes community,” Cr Hill said. Cr Mia Shaw said she favoured sticking with the officer’s decision and warned that as the application complied with all planning requirements, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) could easily overturn the decision. Acting mayor Preet Singh backed Cr Hill’s alternative. “The proposal to sell part of the golf club is quite concerning and sets a very dangerous precedent– we should not let our existing open spaces be compromised for more housing,” Cr Singh said.
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